My work has me watching far more children’s cinema
than even I can tolerate.? One such treasure that I have been exposed to
lately is Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.? Now for those of you that
have not seen this little gem, and I hope that’s all of you, the story
and characters are nice enough and probably leave you with that warm
fuzzy feeling at the end.? The story and message are severely flawed,
however, and I really think the lazy bums who didn’t bother to check
their facts, or even worse, KNEW the facts but replaced them with
falsely based sentimentality, owe our kids an apology.?

Its told by a horse, much like that other classic
piece of literature, “A Horse and his Boy,” or that one treasured piece
of American Culture ?Mr. Ed.’ Basically, the horse is out with his
family, then the cavalry rides to the scene and captures the horse.? The
horse is subjected to a variety of things people do to domesticated
horses, such as grooming and shoeing.? When none can tame him, a
blond-haired authoritative kind of guy, I am assuming meant to be
general Custer, steps up and tries the will of the horse.? Also an
Indian is captured.? The Indian escapes, lets the horse out and? ah,
screw it.

Look guys, the point is the wild horse is held up
pretty clearly by this movie as the eternal, untamed spirit of the
western land.? In the end of the movie, the horse manages to topple one
teams attempt to construct the transcontinental railroad, figuring the
more people the come out west, the more of the rightly wild and free
west would be tamed by oppressive men.? The horse and his tribe ran
free, and all was well.

But, see, the problem with holding the horse up as
the eternal spirit of the west is that horses were imported into America
by Europeans, the same Europeans whose descendants were invading and
conquering the west in this movie.? Plus, the idea that horses are noble
free-roaming beasts that are best left alone and untamed is
questionable.? Feral horses are subject to great numbers of crippling
parasites and difficulties.? Their hooves go untrimmed and unshod
leading to infections and crippling diseases.? Plus, I mean, just look
at horses!? They are strong, swift, and four legged with those broad
backs that scream, “Ride me!”? Its obvious to me they were made to be
tamed and ridden.? Unlike, say, a cougar or a gorilla, which are better
off left wild.

The other thing is, well, the railroad Spirit was
trying so hard to stop got built.? The white man realized his manifest
destiny.? The west was won.? Whatever Spirit was trying to defend the
wild, Wild West lost.? It may be sad, but it’s true.? Why tell our kids
it was a victory for the wild when it wasn’t?? Stupid Hollywood.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2003 at 9:39 am and is filed under Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.